A Foolish Act of Pride
by Ion Halo
Summary: One silent night, a seriously injured Jacob goes back to the train. What has happened to him, and how would Evie react to this? There are no spoilers for the game, but possible spoilers for the book Assassin's Creed Underworld.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! I haven't been active this year because I was not really inspired. This is a story I wrote in the end of last year, but I didn't have time to edit it. So here it is, I hope you like it! I put some Assassin's Creed Underworld references in it, so I don't recommend you to read this if you haven't read the book. Enjoy!**

' _Bad choice, Jacob, bad choice.'_

A silhouette flitted through the eerily silent streets of London. Streetlamps illuminated him for a few seconds as he passed by. Quiet as a wraith, he climbed up the pillars to the railway tracks, albeit with a slower pace than he was used to. His exhausted muscles screamed for mercy.

His breath was shallow and jagged as he somehow made it to the top. ' _Come on, Jacob, just a little longer. The train's almost here. Then Evie might be able to get some help,'_

Timing his jump, he ignored his exhaustion and barely made it onto the train as it approached. He slumped into the last car of the train. The two Rooks who were chatting there jumped. They fixed their gazes at the bloody heap that made the terrible sound earlier.

"What in the blazes is that?" asked one of the Rooks, a male.

"Like _I'm_ supposed to know!" retorted the other sarcastically, a female.

"It looks like a person, and the clothes he's wearing looks very much like…"

"Mr Frye's," finished the female Rook.

" _Help…"_ rasped Jacob, his energy almost depleted. The Rooks hurried to their boss's side.

"Boss! What happened to you?" asked the female Rook. "What are you doing here, Charlie? Go get Miss Frye!" she addressed the other Rook.

Without another word, Charlie went up front to inform Evie of her brother's condition. Rosa, the other Rook, knelt beside Jacob.

"Dear Lord, what have you been doing, Boss?" she whispered as she went over the injuries Jacob had sustained. Every Rook knew that one of their leaders, Jacob Frye, was reckless and would always injure himself, but the cuts and wounds were never as grievous as what Rosa was looking at.

Evie and Henry rushed into the scene, Charlie in the lead. The Assassins were just discussing about their next step in freeing London. Or, it could be something more personal. Evie winced. "What have you been doing, Jacob?" she muttered. She deduced that it was probably not from a fight club, otherwise Robert Topping would come running.

Henry, as surprised as she was, immediately said, "I shall go look for Miss Florence Nightingale," before he jumped out of the train, heading for the renowned nurse's location.

Silently wishing the Indian Assassin luck, she began to instruct the Rooks. "Rosa, I believe you know where the water keg is. Can you please get me a bucket of water and some clean rags? Charlie, please help me get Jacob to his couch,"

The Rooks set about their tasks. Gently, Evie placed one of her arm under Jacob's, while Charlie did the same with Jacob's other arm. Slowly, they managed to move Jacob to his bed. Rosa was already waiting for them. Thanking the Rooks, Evie dismissed them.

"Do ask for our help if you need it, milady," said Charlie. Rosa nodded. Evie thanked them again as she watched the Rooks leave the car.

Soaking the cloth in the bucket of water Rosa had brought, she began to clean her brother's face, revealing many bruises and cuts underneath the mud and blood. She knew Jacob loved fights, Robert Topping had told her that he would visit the fight clubs whenever he had time. Jacob was still the same, he was always honing his fighting skills since his childhood, even though Evie was the superior one in that field. Evie had always outshined her brother in many ways, but Jacob sometimes proved to be the wiser one.

"Oh, Jacob, where did you go this time?" whispered Evie into Jacob's ear.

"West… min… ster…" Jacob managed to croak. So, it was not a fight club after all.

Evie then removed his gauntlet, reminding herself to check it later for damages.

"Why would you even do that? You know they were stronger than us at the moment. The Templars and the Blighters still hold absolute power there, and we've been in London for barely a fortnight," tutted Evie. She noticed that Jacob's clothes were riddled with all sorts of slashes and bullet holes. Blood stained his clothes, whether they were Jacob's or his enemies', she did not know.

"It's amazing how you survived, given how the Blighters you fought almost crushed your armour," she removed her gloves, placing it on Jacob's forehead. He was burning up. "Still, I'm glad you're still alive,"

Evie stayed up all night when Jacob did not come back, it was already over the time he was supposed to return. Worry gnawed at her chest, so she had sought out Henry, her kindred spirit, to provide her with comfort, no matter how small it was. The idea of Jacob dying and leaving her alone in the plan to overthrow Crawford Starrick did cross her mind, but she tried hard to suppress it. It seemed like her worst fear had almost come true. Here comes Jacob, physically destroyed, slumping into the train like a fish out of water. He rarely fought in fights he could never win, unless the situation was dire. What had made him go to Westminster to pick fights with people of higher skill than him? _Never fight in a fight you can never win_ , Sun Tzu had said.

The train stopped at the next station. Henry and Florence Nightingale entered, making their way to the Frye twins. Shock filled Florence's face as she assessed Jacob's injuries.

"What in the world happened to you, Mr Frye?" she asked.

"He picked a fight with people he shouldn't have," answered Evie in stead of her brother.

"This is not good, not good at all. Mr Green, Miss Frye, would you please help me as I am going to remove the bullets that are stuck in Mr Frye's body?" requested Florence.

"Yes," replied the Assassins in unison. Henry removed Jacob's tattered clothes while Evie cleaned the blood off his body.

"I am going to begin the surgery now," announced Florence as she removed her equipment from her bag. Henry glanced at the pocket watch his mother had gotten him on the last day she was staying in London.

Evie knelt beside Jacob, holding his hand. "Jacob? Jacob, are you there?"

"Ev… ie…" Jacob's voice was almost inaudible.

"Miss Nightingale is going to help you. I know it would be painful, but please, stay strong," said Evie. "Let's talk about the times we had in Crawley, alright Jacob? Surely you remember the times where you came up with many new moves right after Father taught us the fundamental skills of fighting, don't you? I used to say they were silly, but you were adamant that they were superior,"

Florence lit a candle and heated her tweezers with it.

"They… were… actually… better than Father's… elementary moves," mustered Jacob. Then he screamed abruptly in pain. The sound of steel hitting steel greeted Evie's ears. The first bullet was removed.

Evie tried to hush her brother. "Jacob, listen to me. You'll be fine. Do you still remember out neighbour, old Nellie? She had the most ferocious-looking dog, but he turned out to be a friendly one. We used to be scared of it, but then we started playing with it, and he was fun to play with,"

Jacob was unable to speak. The pain was too intolerable for him to continue speaking. Sweat beaded his forehead. His breathing grew shallower by the minute, and for a moment there, Evie actually thought he would die. She glanced at Henry in hopes of him offering some support, but instead he was no better than she was. Traces of Jayadeep Mir was still in him: he couldn't bring anyone harm, much less see them in pain. He would like to take their place, to suffer in their place.

This happened a lot when he was still staying in The Tunnel, and he was not sure if he could have made it without the help of Maggie, a fellow dweller. As an unofficial guardian, it was his job to tend to the injured dwellers. Many of them would hurt themselves during the construction of the underground railway, and he would treat them the best he could using whatever he had in hand.

Henry wondered what Maggie would be saying if she were here with him. She would train her fiery eyes at Jacob and say, "Don't you dare die, lad. You still have a whole lotta life to live for," That was Maggie. Despite her age, her spirit remained young and lively. Alas, what was left of her was Henry's memory of her grey matted hair, unlaced boots and a determined face that never wavered.

"Do you remember Ajay, whom we cornered in an alley with George and Father?" asked Evie, her voice slightly quivering. Ajay. The Indian Assassin who turned his back to the teachings of the Assassin way and sold information about Henry to the Templars. Evie had always wondered what made him do that.

"He slit his own throat in front of us, and that was the first time for us to see all the blood and gore of a person spilling out. We never slept that night, didn't we? It was so horrifying,"

"Didn't… stop… you… from… eavesdropping…" Jacob tried to say.

"Father and George were always talking about interesting things, you see. I couldn't think of anything better to expand my knowledge,"

Florence finally removed all the bullets. She began to stitch up the large lacerations with catgut before disinfecting the wound and bandaging it up. She then treated all the smaller cuts. Evie tried to think of all the things she could say to keep Jacob with her.

"It's all finished," announced Florence some hours later. She was absolutely tired after the hours of saving Jacob from the clutches of Death.

"Did you hear that, Jacob?" asked Evie, but she noticed his hand turning colder. His face was pale and gaunt. Fear bubbled inside of her. "Miss Nightingale, is Jacob…"

Florence examined Jacob's pulse. "No worries, Miss Frye. Mr Frye has lost a lot of blood and his pulse is weak. He will be fine a few days later," she took a vial from her medicine box. "Here, it's for the fever,"

Evie took the vial and read the label. ' _Warburg's Tincture – administer once a day and the fever is sure to be gone.'_

"Also, don't forget to let the fresh air in from time to time. Don't hesitate to alert me when something goes out of the ordinary," said the nurse before taking her leave on the next stop.

"I guess we'll have to clean this mess up, Mr Green," said Evie.

"Agreed, Miss Frye," Henry responded. It conjured up all the memories of the dwellers in The Tunnel he had saved. They all looked at him gratefully and thanked him profusely. But he knew, it was the will of them to live that kept them alive.

The first golden rays of the sun illuminated London. The Assassins cleaned the blood up and moved Jacob into a more comfortable position. Evie thanked Henry and asked him to go get some sleep. When he left, Evie went back to where she was during the surgery.

"I'm so glad you're still alive, Jacob," she whispered. Watching Jacob, she began to grow drowsy, and fell asleep at last.

* * *

Evie opened her eyes, only to realize she was in an awkward position. Her muscles ached from the angle she was contorting. Jacob seemed to have not moved at all since the night before. Sensing another person, she looked behind her, seeing Florence with her kind smile.

"Good evening, Miss Frye," she greeted.

Evie blushed at the thought that she had slept the entire day away, and at the fact that Florence had to see her like this, disheveled. "I'm sorry, Miss Nightingale, to be greeting you like this. Have you been here for long?"

"It's fine. I see that you've tried to watch over Mr Frye all night. And no, I just arrived a few moments ago. Mr Frye seems to be fine, although his fever is still quite high. I'll have to renew the bandages,"

Thanks to Florence's skill in medical affairs, Jacob's wounds were not infected. She applied some ointment and bound the wounds with fresh bandages.

"There are no problems with Mr Frye. I have other errands to run, so I will leave on the next station," said Florence.

"Thank you, Miss Nightingale. You have been a great help," thanked Evie.

The train stopped on the next station. "Good day, Miss Frye," said the nurse before she left.

Remembering to inspect Jacob's gauntlet, she took it from where she had left it. Getting a chair, she sat on it while assessing the damages. ' _Did he ever oil his blade mechanism? What if it jammed when he was fighting?'_

She ran maintenances on the gauntlet. Realizing that Jacob's clothes cannot be worn again, she wondered how she would get him new ones. Clothes fashioned for Assassins had many aspects not found on normal clothes, like an armoured plating, for example. Finding a shop that sold those would not be impossible, but difficult. She could leave right away to look for that shop, but that would mean leaving Jacob alone when he was most vulnerable. After all, how could she leave him like that when he had been there for her when she needed him the most?

When Evie came of age, it was a difficult time for her. Many things have changed for her. Ethan had tried his best to make her feel better, but it was always Jacob who managed to reassure her. When the older boys began to ogle her, who was it but Jacob who beat the living daylights out of every single one of them? Despite not knowing what had made the others start to treat his sister in such an impertinent way, young Jacob Frye had became Evie's beacon of light. He was Evie's silly knight in shining armour.

Thus, Evie decided to leave the clothes business to Henry. Given his connections, he should be able to do something about it quickly. She reminded herself to inform the Indian Assassin if he came to visit. She took a tome from her room and settled down to read it, while keeping an eye at her brother. Conquering London can wait. Crawford Starrick can live a little longer. What's important is that Jacob will recover soon.

* * *

Everything was hazy. Ethan sparring with him, ten-year old Evie sharing a treat with him, George Westhouse teaching him about the tenets of the Assassins…

A white light attacked his eyes harshly. A distant sound of a train moving, a dull pain on his torso, so tired. ' _Am I dead?'_ he thought.

"Jacob! Finally, you're awake," said a female's voice gaily. _'Could that be Mother's voice? No, she's dead a long time ago. Funny, I always imagined her voice to be a little like that, but older,'_

This added to his confusion. Whose voice could that be? His eyes adjusted to the intense light. A woman with blue eyes and braids looked at him. Jacob opened his mouth, but could only rasp. ' _What's happening? I can't move or talk at all,'_

The woman held his head up and poured some water into his mouth. It moisturized his throat.

"Evie…"

"Yes, Jacob?"

"What happened?"

"You've been in a coma ever since you came back all bloody four years ago, Jacob. Welcome to London in 1872,"

"What about Starrick?"

"Still on the top of our hit list since I had to take care of you,"

' _I've been sleeping for four whole years and London is still not free? I wasted four whole years doing absolutely_ nothing _? Wait, why does the room look and smell the same, and Evie still looks like she hasn't aged a day?'_ All the thoughts welled up in Jacob's mind.

"Calm down, brother. You've only slept for four days, and your fever broke yesterday," Evie laughed. "Even Miss Nightingale was amazed that you made such a quick recovery,"

"Evie, you devil," Jacob began to laugh too.

Evie opened a container and poured its contents into a bowl. Its aroma was very enticing. Helping Jacob to a sitting position, she sat beside him while spooning the liquid from the bowl to him.

Jacob drank it gratefully. "What's this? It's pretty good,"

"It's chicken soup. I made it this morning, so it should still be warm. It's great that you like it," Evie scooped more.

"Was Greenie the one who taught you how to make this? I taste spices," asked Jacob.

"Yes, he did,"

"Evie, what happened during the four days?"

"Miss Nightingale came every day to check on you. I asked Mr Green to find you another set of your outfit, since the armour in the last one won't protect you anymore. It should be here later today, and no worries, the design is the same, and it comes with a new top hat as well," answered Evie.

"You planned everything so meticulously as usual, Evie. So… Did I do weird things in my sleep?" asked Jacob. His memory of the haziness earlier was fading, but he wanted to know what was happening. If he said something in his sleep, it could connect to what he saw.

"You were never responsive, but you cried out sometimes… You cried out for Mother, as though you saw her," Evie looked away. How could she tell him that she thought he would die, since their mother is dead for almost twenty years? There would be no one to fill Jacob's shoes.

Jacob willed his hand to touch Evie's face. It was difficult, considering he just woke up from four days of coma. He always did this whenever Evie was scared. Whether it was nightmares or the sound of lightning, Jacob knew his presence would soothe her. When was the last time they did this? Six, seven years ago? Jacob did not remember.

"You thought I'd die, Evie? No, I won't. I'm the Master Assassin to-be Jacob Frye, not some random sod on the sidewalks," said Jacob confidently, hiding the fact that he actually thought he was dead for a moment there.

"Then what were you thinking, 'Master Assassin to-be Jacob Frye'? Why did you go all the way to Westminster and start fights? We can always conquer that later, but no, you decided that now was the best time! What if you died, Jacob Frye? I can't possibly go face Starrick on my own!" She waved Jacob's hand away.

"But look at where I am, Evie. Am I with you now, or am I with our old man?"

"Don't change the subject, Jacob! You were too cocky!"

Jacob pulled his sister into a hug. "Maybe I am, Evie. But am I not here now? I swear I'll give Starrick a good spanking before I die,"

"Promise me you won't be reckless, you dolt,"

"Yes, I won't be reckless," Jacob released Evie. "Now, may I have more of the divine soup you made?"

Satisfied, Evie poured more soup from the container, smiling contentedly.

 **That's all for the chapter. If it were an oneshot, I believe it'd be too long. I will post the next chapter if as soon as possible. I hope you liked the story so far, and see you on the next one!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again! I know I took quite a long time to post a new chapter, but that's what most authors are like.**

"Where do you think you're going, Jacob?" asked Evie firmly.

"Somewhere important, Evie. Now, give me my gauntlet," Jacob admired himself in the outfit Henry had procured for him. It suited him better than the last one, he would say.

"You're unfit for roaming around London, Jacob. Did you not listen to Miss Nightingale's advice?"

"Well, look here, Sister. I can walk around just fine now," answered Jacob indignantly. He jumped around for effect.

"Stay in the train, Jacob Frye. You are not to be anywhere else until you have fully recovered," insisted Evie.

Henry walked into their car, holding a letter. "Miss Frye, I…" he began to say.

Seeing his sister distracted, he seized the opportunity to jump off the train. Evie looked out the train in alarm, but her brother was nowhere to be seen.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Frye. Am I interrupting something?" Henry looked dumbfounded.

"Mr Green, your intervention has caused Jacob to run away," Evie did not plan for her voice to be so spiteful.

"I'm so sorry, Miss Frye, I…" Henry had nothing to say.

"It's okay, Mr Green. You didn't have a grasp of the situation," Evie sighed.

"But I'm sure Mr Frye will avoid the Templars or the Blighters for his own safety. He is not as irrational as you think," reassured Henry.

"I've confiscated his gauntlet until he recovers,"

"But I believe he still has a kukri and a revolver with him,"

"I sure wish that Aleck figures out how to make his 'telephones' mobile one day, then I'd be able to track Jacob down easily the next time he runs away like that,"

"That would behoove us in the field of communication, Miss Frye. But look at this letter that just arrived," Henry held the letter out.

Evie took the letter and read it.

* * *

' _Aha, there it is,'_ thought Jacob Frye as he scoured the area from the top of a building. He performed a leap of faith, diving into a haystack. It hurt his wounds, but not excessively. Jumping out, he cleaned himself of the stray straws of hay clinging onto his clothes. He then made his way to his destination, a graveyard.

The graveyard was not grand; it was nearby the slums. The dead dwellers of the slums were usually buried there. They were mostly children, since the living quarters were very cramped and adults usually crushed them or trampled them unintentionally in their sleep. Jacob had no business here, he knew, but he must visit the three Rooks who secured his life in exchange for theirs.

Countless graves were unmarked, but Jacob made sure all of his fallen Rooks had marked gravestones. He would have given them a better place to rest in, but money was tight these times.

Jacob stopped in front of a grave with ' _In Memory of Jack, Veronica and Sam'_ carved on its headstone. They were three brave young people. They died defending what was most important to them – their boss. Jacob knew George would have been chastising him for crying then and there, but his rules be damned. He was going to cry for the people who saved his life.

"Damn me for making irrational decisions…" he bowed to his three former comrades.

* * *

"All right, Rooks, who wants to go with me and tear the Blighters' flag down in Westminster?" proclaimed Jacob, downing his mug of beer. It was a typical evening that Jacob would spend with some of his Rooks.

The three Rooks who were with him passed looks among each other.

"Look, boss, don't'cha think that Westminster has a bunch of much stronger lads?" Sam was cautious.

"All the more reason for us to take them down," replied Veronica.

"We know you're a bricky girl, Veronica. But I stand with Sam on this one," said Jack. He _was_ a Brute, but that did not essentially mean he did not have the brains to gauge the danger it would put them in.

"Westminster is pretty dangerous, I'd say, given how advanced their weapons are," added Sam.

"Where are you lads' adventurous spirits? Look at Veronica here, she's got more balls than you do," challenged Jacob.

"But, boss, it's not like-" Sam was saying.

"Listen 'ere, you two, I'm following Mr Frye no matter what you say!" Veronica was indignant.

"Damn it, Sam, we can't just leave Veronica with the Blighters by herself," whispered Jack to Sam.

"I know that! Seems like we have no choice in this if she's this stubborn," responded the latter, defeated.

The three were close-knitted friends ever since childhood. They survived together in the slums, and promised each other that they would never ever leave each other. They were initially Blighters, working under Rexford Kaylock in Whitechapel. When Kaylock died in the twin Assassins' hands, they were ready to die. That was, until Jacob offered them a chance to join the Rooks. Join the Rooks they did, and they learned one quality the twins had but Kaylock did not, which was kindness towards one's people. Kaylock worked the Blighters to their limits, offering minimum wage and would never spend time with his gang. He thought the Blighters were hooligans and their statuses would never match his.

Thus, the four traveled to Westminster via carriage to start a fight with the stronger, better equipped Blighters. The fight was futile. The Rooks were severely outnumbered. They barely survived the first wave, and Blighter reinforcements were already on their way.

Sam has collapsed, wounds riddling his body. Veronica knelt beside his body, looking into his already faded eyes. "Oh, Sam, what's wrong? Please, oh, please, wake up," she began to cry. "It's entirely my fault for wanting to be here,"

Jack knelt as well, closing Sam's unseeing eyes. He dried his remaining friend's tears. "Get up, Veronica. We'll have to leave before the rest of the Blighters come,"

Jacob, who has already suffered some gunshot wounds and knife slashes, noticed that it was too late for all three of them to escape, given their stamina. They would all die at that point. "Alright, listen up, the both of you. I want you two to run as fast as you can when I divert their attention. Can you do that?"

"What are you saying, Boss? You serve a more important purpose than the both of us combined. People like Veronica and I can be replaced by other Rooks. You can't simply be replaced like that," protested Jack.

"If one of us is going to live, it's going to be you, Mr Frye! If it were me or Jack who survived, we can't free London like you can! Besides, we couldn't live on without Sam,"

Jack shoved Jacob away. "Just go, Boss, and don't look back. I know it's painful, but it's either you or us. And we've decided that it should be you,"

Jacob shook his head. "No! I refuse to let this happen!"

"Just go, Mr Frye! You can conquer Westminster another day, and all three of us are very grateful you decided to spare us and take us under your wing," said Veronica before the first of the Blighters shot her fatally.

Jack fought the Blighters back, refusing to let them approach Jacob. Hurt, horrified and exhausted as he was, he could not do anything save for escaping the area.

* * *

When Jacob returned to the train, he wondered who recovered the Rooks' bodies and buried them. He learned of their final resting place through the other Rooks. Surprisingly, the Rooks did not blame their gang leader for performing such a grave mistake. Jacob expected most of them to view Jacob as an irresponsible leader, as a leader's job were to keep his subjects safe. They merely shrugged it off and said it was just a mistake in judgment. ' _They must have seen worse things,_ ' Jacob had thought.

Still, Jacob was still regretting the fact that he did not listen to Jack and Sam, given their predictions came true. What could he say when what has happened has happened? The milk has already been spilt. Veronica, Sam and Jack were dead, Jacob himself was severely injured and went into a coma for four days, and his gauntlet was still nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Jacob Frye," said a voice. It brought Jacob back to reality.

He looked up to see Ned Wynert standing there. "Yes, what is it, Mr Wynert?"

"You gave your sister quite a shock, you know that?"

Jacob looked around, only to realize his sister's absence. "Well, I have my own reasons to go out today,"

"And it sent her outside, looking for her injured brother. You're not fit to go outside yet, Jacob." Ned patted the Assassin's shoulder.

"What should I do, then?"

"Stay in this train, that's what you can do. Actually, it's the only thing you are _allowed_ do," suggested Ned.

* * *

' _That reckless Jacob, where does he find himself now?'_ thought Evie as she jumped from roof to roof, in hopes of spotting Jacob from her vantage point. She has already gone to his favourite bars, and even visited Aleck. All that effort to no avail.

Henry's letter was from Constable Frederick Abberline. There was apparently an 'unsolvable' crime that occurred recently. He was hoping for the twins to try their hand in cracking the case.

It was highly illogical for Jacob to be there as he has already left the train when she read the letter. However, she did visit the police department for safety measures, only to learn that the constable was out at the moment because he had to visit a colleague of his.

It would also be obvious that Jacob would not be in high places as he was not wearing his gauntlet.

Another possible location hit Evie. ' _Don't you dare go look for Robert Topping when your wounds have barely healed.'_ she thought, furious.

She headed to the nearest fight club.

* * *

"Well, what is it that I can do in this train here, other than to sleep? It's too early to be sleeping, anyways," lamented Jacob as he sunk into the sofa.

A brilliant idea struck him then. "Ah, I might as well be looking for my gauntlet,"

He casually walked into Evie's car. He opened her drawers, finding only books, as expected. He dug deeper. A particularly thick book caught his attention. Not that he liked books, thick ones, especially; a kind of scent emanated from that book.

"Doesn't this belong to Greenie's shop?" mused Jacob. He opened the herbarium, revealing a variety of pressed flowers and its labels. ' _Narcissus – Self love. Hydrangea – Thankfulness…'_

He flipped through a few more pages before closing it. He thought about how quickly Evie collected them. What had caused her to collect them in such fervour. Jacob had only one answer to explain that. He replaced the book exactly as Evie had left it; Assassins' trained eyes were really good at spotting minor changes to their surroundings. Jacob had totally forgotten about the gauntlet, a new goal in his mind. When he was positive that Ned was not watching him, he slipped off the train at the next station.

* * *

Evie had searched everywhere for her brother, but to no avail. The urchins weren't of much help, either. She decided to visit Henry's antique shop.

The doorbell chimed. Looking up from his work, Henry greeted his visitor.

"Welcome- Oh, hello, Miss Frye, any luck in finding Mr Frye? I apologize once more for what had happened just now,"

"Hello, Mr Green. No, I couldn't find him anywhere. Don't blame yourself,"

"You have checked every place Jacob frequented?"

"Believe me, I went to every single one of them, and all of them said they have not seen him for days," Evie's face betrayed the worry.

Looking at Evie's face for an appropriate amount of time, Henry's features softened. "It must be great, having siblings,"

Evie was stunned by the sudden statement. "What do you mean?"

"I don't have any siblings back in India. Yes, I was showered with love and attention by my parents, but it was sort of lonely, having no one of the same age to play with me. Besides, my parents were not always available, too," reminisced Henry.

"You've seen what Jacob is doing to me," protested Evie.

"Yes, I have, but are you two not going to reminisce about this many years later and have a good laugh about it?"

"Well, that may be true…"

"Do not underestimate all the memories you share with loved ones, Miss Frye. When the late Mr Ethan Frye came to train me, he talked only about your late mother, never about you two. Curious, I asked him about you two, but he could not muster anything. I convinced him to look past his loathing towards you two, and requested for him to return, so that you could have a chance to create memories together," said Henry.

"That was the reason he returned?"

"Partly, yes, and he also believed you two were ready to begin your Assassin training. Through our correspondence, I learned much of your life. That was the moment I realized, having siblings is truly a blessing," concluded Henry.

"Oh, Henry, I did not know that," said Evie.

"Enough stories for now, Miss Frye. Since you have already searched everywhere for Mr Frye, I believe the only logical place he could be after this span of time would be none other than the train," deduced Henry.

"I see. Thank you, Mr Green. The conversation we had was much enlightening," said Evie before leaving the shop.

On her way back to the train, she thought about the recent conversation with Henry. She learned something new about him, and that was a start. If his deductions were true, though, she wondered what she would say to Jacob.

Evie leaped into the train with perfect timing. She walked slowly to Jacob's car, gathering her thoughts. There he was, dozing off in his sofa, top hat obscuring his face. He was mumbling something incoherent in his sleep.

"Wake up, Jacob Frye! I demand to know your whereabouts up till now," Evie raised her voice.

Jacob woke up with a start. "Whoa, calm down, Sister,"

"Do you even know where I have been to look for you, you numbskull?"

"Come on, Evie, I'm sure you know that I haven't been drinking nor fighting. I merely went out for some fresh air, is all. Did you know how confining it is in this train?"

"Even so, do you know what could've happened to you? You are still an injured man, Jacob," argued Evie.

"Are you underestimating me, Evie?" asked Jacob.

"Yes, I am. Now tell me exactly where you've been." Impatience seeped into the female Assassin.

"If you demand answers, then here they are. Look at my hands, they're empty, right?" Jacob proffered his hands. With a count to three and a snap of his fingers, a bouquet of flowers appeared in his previously empty hands.

"What are you trying to say, Jacob," asked Evie, eyeing the flora in her brother's hands.

"Time to put the knowledge Greenie and you collected to use," hinted the man.

"Hyacinths, snapdragons, a sign of gratitude," recited Evie.

"And there you have it," said Jacob, handing the flowers over.

"Jacob, you shouldn't have," Evie took the bouquet.

"I know the days you took care of me were full of wasted opportunities to free London. So, to make up, once I've healed, I we'll double our efforts to this cause,"

"That's great, Jacob." A smile danced on Evie's lips.

"Now, I shall go rest up," announced Jacob.

"That's my Jake," said Evie. Jake had been Jacob's nickname when Ethan was alive. Jacob did not like being called by that name.

"You know what, Evie? For some reason, I missed being called by that,"

Evie giggled before leaving her brother alone. She smelled the flowers, remembering that Henry was right. Siblings were truly wonderful. She plucked a stalk of hyacinth and returned to Jacob's car. The Assassin was already asleep. Placing it near her brother, she whispered, "Thank you, Brother, for being there for me."

 **Thank you for taking your time to read this. I didn't have time to check for errors, so forgive me. I hope it was enjoyable!**


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